Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senator from Utah has an amendment he is going to speak to in a moment. I just want to say one thing. I appreciate the observation made by the Senator from New Hampshire Ms. Ayotte with regard to this going through a regular order process. If this were a serious discussion, there would have been an opportunity to have a debate at the appropriate committee, the HELP Committee. You just heard great presentations by the Senator from Nebraska and the Senator from New Hampshire on amendments that they would like to have considered and debated and voted on--substantive amendments that address what is at the heart of this issue. I think we all understand what this is about. I mentioned this morning on the floor the New York Times story from a couple weeks ago about what the intention is with regard to these issues. Again, this is from the New York Times story, and I quote: ``to be timed to coincide with campaign-style trips by President Obama.'' ``Democrats concede,'' the Times reports, ``that making new laws is not really the point. Rather, they are trying to force Republicans to vote against them.'' The article goes on to say-- and I quote again: Privately, White House officials say they have no intention of searching for any grand bargain with Republicans on any of these issues. ``The point isn't to compromise''. . . . That is reporting from the New York Times, and quoting a White House official with regard to this.…”